The invention relates to a mounting bracket for the cabinet-interior end of the runner of drawer guides, in which the rail to be fastened to the wall of the cabinet engages the underside of the corresponding runner in the form of an inverted channel which is to be fastened removably to the drawer, and forms in the interior of the runner a track for rolling bodies which are held in an elongated cage and can roll on the track of the drawer guide rail and on a track formed by associated areas of the inside surface of the runner, and thus permit a longitudinal displacement of the runner relative to the rail, a front mounting piece which can be attached to the drawer bottom adjacent the drawer front being associated with the outside front end of the runner, in which the cabinet-exterior end of the runner is releasably held.
On account of the great number of rolling bodies in the form of balls and/or rollers separated from one another not only in the direction of drawer movement but also at right angles thereto, drawer guides of the kind here in question not only are easy-running and capable of bearing heavy loads, but also have the additional advantage that even in the fully extended state they have a high transverse stability, so that a drawer mounted on them in a cabinet will have no appreciable free play even in the fully extended state. Consequently, such drawer guides are increasingly used for mounting drawers in high-quality furniture. However, in comparison to rolling drawer guides which are more critical as regards their transverse stability in the extended state, the ball or roller bearing drawer guides described above are more complex and accordingly expensive to manufacture. If they are at all to be offered on a price-competitive basis they have to be made in large quantities. This means, however, that only certain, frequently used lengths of these drawer guides are available, while drawer guides of the kind here in question are not offered in precisely fitting lengths for drawers of a length differing from the standard dimensions. The plastic cage which holds the rolling bodies between the guide rail and the runner and spaces them apart limits the movement of the drawer guides to a length that is shorter than the length of the corresponding drawer, so that the back of the fully extended drawer is still inside of the cabinet by the length of the cage, i.e., drawer guides of the kind in question are so-called "short-length guides." Especially in the case of shallow drawers of very great length, the rear portion of the drawer that is still inside of the cabinet is difficult to see and reach into when the drawer is fully extended. It would therefore be desirable to make these drawer guides "full-length guides" in which the drawer can be drawn so far out of the cabinet that its back wall will be about flush with the front of the cabinet. Full-length drawer action is obtained in drawer guides of a different kind, such as the above-mentioned roller guides, by combining two single guides to make so-called "double guides." In the case of the drawer guides here in question the way to the creation of a full-length drawer guides is blocked by costs. On the other hand, however, in a number of cases, especially in the case of cabinets of great depth, such as kitchen floor cabinets, drawers are made in a length shorter than the depth of the cabinet, and then it often happens that no drawer guide of proper length is obtainable, while a longer drawer guide that would fit into the cabinet is available. The use of a longer drawer guide would even have the advantage that an additional length of drawer movement would be obtained, i.e., that the drawer could be drawn out entirely from the cabinet in the manner of a full-length drawer guide. The runner of a lengthened drawer guide then, of course, projects beyond the back of the drawer, raising the problem of attaching this protruding end to the drawer, since the runner must be removable and must be able to be fastened to the drawer so as to be easily and quickly unfastened therefrom. Mounting hardware is available (DE-OS 36 32 442) for fastening the front end of the runner adjacent the drawer front. Methods for attaching the protruding back end of the runners have also been developed in special cases, but they are limited to runners whose cabinet-interior end is fastened to the drawer in a certain manner.
These are runners in which an elongated tongue has been cut free at the rearward end from the web of the runner and then bent to form a hook by first bending the tongue at right angles away from the web and then bending a portion forward at right angles, i.e., to a position parallel to the web. When the runner is mounted on a drawer, this hook section parallel to the web is inserted into a corresponding bored in the back of the drawer. In the case of a runner overreaching the drawer in the area of its back, such mounting is evidently impossible, and it was for this reason that, in the above-mentioned previous solution (DE-OS 36 41 325), an adapter was placed on the protruding end of the runner, from whose front surface facing the drawer back a bolt projected which could be inserted into the bore serving to accommodate the horizontal hook portion of the above-mentioned mounting hook of the runner. In the rear face of the adapter, then a bore was provided into which the hook formed on the runner could be inserted. It is apparent that these adapters must be of a length precisely corresponding to the length by which the runner overreaches the drawer back. Since the amount of this overreach, however, is not established but depends on the length of the drawer, the adapters have to be made of a length to fit the special applications or cut afterward to the desired length.
The invention is addressed to the problem of creating a mounting bracket for the rearward end of drawer guide runners reaching beyond the back wall of drawers, which will be universally usable and completely independent of the length of the overreach of the runners.